


Big Brother Jason

by leafykeen



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Bruce Wayne is a Good Parent, Damian Wayne Gets a Hug, Fluff, Gen, Good Sibling Jason Todd, Hurt/Comfort, Mentions of animal death BUT NOBODY DIES, SO MUCH FLUFF
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 16:15:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,612
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28851939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/leafykeen/pseuds/leafykeen
Summary: Jason might be okay with being a big brother. He might even end up being good at it.
Relationships: Jason Todd & Damian Wayne, Tim Drake & Jason Todd, Titus | Damian Wayne's Dog & Damian Wayne
Comments: 18
Kudos: 249





	1. Chapter 1

Tim swung open the door to his apartment and scowled "What are you doing here?" 

"Dick called me," Jason said, "believe me, this isn't my preferred way to spend a Wednesday either. Now are you going to let me in or not?" 

Tim stepped aside and let Jason in, still scowling. "He wasn't supposed to call you." 

"Well he did, because apparently Bruce can't be disturbed." 

"He's in an important meeting. I told Dick not to call him," Tim said. "It's just a migraine. Not even a bad one. I don't need a babysitter." 

Jason sighed. "Look, all I know is Dick wouldn't leave me alone until I agreed to come over and keep an eye on you. Any mama bird issues are between you and him." 

"Fine, whatever." Tim threw up his hands in frustration and returned to his seat on the couch. 

"Have you taken anything yet?" Jason called after him. Tim hadn't. 

"There's some painkillers in the cupboard above the sink." 

A minute later, Jason handed him a glass of water and two white tablets, then sat at the other end of the couch. "So what are we watching?" He asked. 

"Brooklyn Nine Nine." 

"Nice." 

They watched in silence for a while, before Tim said, "I don't have _mama bird_ issues with Dick, by the way."

Jason snorted. "Yes you do. We all do. He tried to give me a hard time last week about eating healthy, as if I wasn't the one who got cooking lessons from Alfred while he lives on Twinkies and corn chips." Tim giggled, and Jason rolled his eyes. "Don't you laugh when I just saw the exact same things in your kitchen." 

Tim laughed again, and then pressed his water glass to his temple with a gasp, as waves of pain shot through his head. 

"You okay, kid?" Jason asked, suddenly concerned, "Does light bother you, or sound?" 

"Light," Tim said, his eyes squeezed shut. 

"Okay." Jason turned off the tv, plunging the room into near darkness despite Tim's protests. "That's gotta be the worst thing for you right now. Where is your phone?" Tim unlocked his phone and handed it to Jason. He scrolled for a minute, and then set it screen down on the coffee table. Tim heard the episode resume. "You've seen this one already, right?" 

"Yeah." 

"Then you don't need to look at it. You can just listen. Lay down." 

Tim obeyed with a huff. "You know those painkillers are like all caffeine, right?" 

Jason shrugged. "So don't sleep. But there's no reason to keep doing things that make the pain worse." 

Tim laid down and closed his eyes, then reached back behind him to drag the blanket draped over the back of his couch down. He struggled for a minute, unwilling to open his eyes again, before Jason straightened it out for him. 

"Is the light from the kitchen a problem?" 

Tim squinted. There was a reflection in the tv screen, but not enough to cause any extra pain. "No. It's fine." He closed his eyes again. 

"Okay. I brought a book with me, so I'll be in there if you need anything." 

Tim snuggled down until his blanket and listened to the start of the next episode playing from his phone, while his migraine slowly faded, and Jason stayed. 


	2. Chapter 2

"Why are we here, Todd?" 

Jason rolled his eyes. "Well, _I'm_ here to get new shoes. You're here because you insisted on coming along." 

"Tt. Nothing here is new." 

Jason tried not to be offended at Damian's obvious disgust for his favorite thrift store. "Everything here is new to us, and that's what matters." Jason perused the first shoe rack, and something immediately caught his eye. "Whoa, look! You're not gonna believe this." 

"What is it?" Damian asked, curious in spite of himself. Jason held up a pair of shoes. "What are you excited about? How many diseases are probably living in those?" 

"You don't even know what these are, do you?" 

"They're dirty. That's what they are." 

Jason shook his head and set the shoes gently on the floor. "Try them on." 

"Absolutely not." 

"Kid, just trust me. Try them on." 

Damian glared at Jason and tried to forget that he was sliding someone's dirty used tennis shoes onto his feet. Jason grinned. "Okay, now stomp your foot." 

"Why?" 

"Quit being so skeptical and just do it." 

Damian rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could, and stomped his foot. His eyes went wide as red and blue lights flashed from the sides of the right shoe. Jason laughed. 

"See? I told you! Wasn't that worth coming out for?" 

Damian frowned. "Why? I'm not going to buy them." 

Jason shook his head. "Why on earth wouldn't you buy them? They light up, _and_ they're exactly your size. You're basically Cinderella. You're getting them." 

"There's no practical use for them." 

"Let's at least look at the price before you turn them down." Jason crouched down and grabbed the price tag, ripping it clean off the left shoe. "Whoops! Now we have to buy them," he said, grinning again. Damian was pretty sure that wasn't how price tags worked, but he concluded that Jason probably knew more about thrift store etiquette than he did. 

"Look, they're even on sale! Pink tags, twenty percent off." 

"Tt. Fine. You may buy them for me." He started to put his own shoes back on when Jason stopped him. 

"You might as well leave them on," he said, "to break them in." 

Damian huffed and picked up his shoes. "So I'm just supposed to carry these around with me then?" 

"Yep!" 

They checked out ten minutes later. Jason handed the cashier the pink tag along with his own items. "My brother's going to be wearing these ones out of the store." 

The old lady looked over the counter and smiled. "Oh I'm so glad! Kids and their cell phones, and their video games, and their MySpaces. It's nice to see a kid who still knows how to have fun." 

Jason nodded along with her unexpected rant. "You're so right, and no one knows how to have fun like Damian here. Right kid?" 

Damian glowered, and Jason laughed. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jason and Damian returned to the manor to find Bruce and Alfred in the kitchen. Damian approached Bruce, walking carefully. "Father," he said, "Todd and I purchased some shoes for me today." Damian stomped his feet one after the other, and Bruce's eyebrows shot up at the bright lights that shone off of them. "I realize they may _look_ silly and frivolous," Damian continued, "but they actually serve a very specific purpose." 

"Oh?" 

"Yes. When I take Titus outside at night, he will be able to see me much more easily." 

"Oh," Bruce said again, "I can see how that will be helpful. The floodlight by the door is much less eye-catching, isn't it?" 

"Yes, exactly." Damian nodded. "I knew you would understand the necessity." 

"I certainly do." 

"Plus," Jason chimed in, "they're fun!" 

Damian gave him a withering look. "Oh Todd. There are things more important than _fun_." 

Jason, Bruce, and Alfred stifled their laughter until Damian left the room, and if he stomped a little more in his practical, light-up, Titus-spotting shoes, no one ever brought it up. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Damian watches something he wasn't supposed to

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took so long to get out because the next chapter was supposed to be Tim, but the Tim chapter won't let me put it into words just yet, so I moved up Damian's next chapter.

Jason was reading in the manor library, happy to have a moment to himself, when he heard the door open with the slightest squeak. He sighed and looked up to see Damian in the doorway, his face screwed up in an odd expression. 

Jason replaced the bookmark in his book, and asked, "What do you want, kid?" Damian didn't answer, but walked closer until he was standing almost directly in front of Jason. "You know there's not a TV in here, right?" 

That was when Damian burst into tears. Jason panicked. "Damian, are you hurt?" He shook his head, and Jason relaxed a little. "You know I was kidding, right? You're allowed to be here in. It's okay." 

Damian shook his head again and mumbled something Jason could barely hear. Jason leaned forward to grip Damian's shoulders, and said, "Say that again?" Damian took the opportunity to hook his arms around Jason's neck and hold on tight, so that Jason, in order to not stay hunched over, had to pull Damian onto his lap. He was just able to make out when Damian repeated himself, in between harsh sobs, "I don't want Titus to die." 

"Wait wait, hold on," Jason adjusted Damian's position to hold him more comfortably, and then asked, "What makes you think Titus is going to die?" 

Again Damian mumbling was almost indecipherable, but Jason caught something about a movie. "Okay. What movie did you watch?"

Damian wailed, "Old Yeller," and dissolved into tears again. 

"Oh, buddy," Jason rested his cheek against Damian's head, and rubbed his back in circles. "That's not a movie you should've watched by yourself. But you know Titus doesn't have rabies, right?" 

Damian turned his head just enough that Jason could hear him better. "I _know_ he doesn't have rabies, but dogs don't live as long as people, which means that Titus is going to die and leave me all alone." Damian shoved his face against Jason's neck, sniffling. 

"Well," Jason said, "you're not alone. Because you've got this whole house full of people who won't let you be alone," _even when you want to be_ , "but, I guess since dogs' lives aren't as long as people's, it's important to make sure that Titus has a really good life." 

Damian sat back and looked at Jason. "How do I do that?" 

"I think you already do," Jason surprised himself by wiping the kids tears with the sleeve of his sweater, although he carefully avoided his running nose. "The way that you play with him everyday, feed him on a schedule, take him for walks-" 

"And now he can see me at night." 

Jason smiled. "That's right, you even bought special shoes so Titus could go out at night. His whole world revolves around you, but he can tell how much you love him by how you take such good care of him, and that's what matters." 

The unlatched library door flung open again, this time to admit one giant great dane. "Speak of the devil," Jason mumbled." Titus' claws clicked as he trotted across the floor, and he lept up onto the sofa when Damian called him, despite Jason's protests. 

"Oof!" The dogs pointy elbows stabbed into Jason's stomach and his thigh. "Why couldn't you have had a cat, kid?" 

"I do have a cat." 

"A second cat them. This dog stinks." 

Damian scowled. "He smells like dog, Todd. That's what dogs are supposed to smell like." Jason rolled his eyes, but he had to admit it was cute when Damian flung his arms around Titus' neck and whispered something Jason couldn't hear into the dog's ear. He was a little surprised when Damian, still clinging to Titus' neck, leaned back against him again and seemed to settle in. 

He picked up his book and opened it to the marked page. "So I assume everyone who is here is here because they're interested in Jane Eyre?" When neither Damian or Titus answered, Jason began - mid-chapter - to read aloud. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you ever get all of your html done and realize every place you meant to put a paragraph break, you did italics instead?
> 
> I think that Jason reading out loud to Damian is about the cutest thing ever, and have been wanting to include it in a story for a very long time. 
> 
> Please tell me if you liked this chapter, or if there was anything in particular that you did like, or if there's something you'd like to see in this story in the future! I'd be happy to hear suggestions.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tim and Jason see a Star War

"Are you doing anything tomorrow?" 

Jason glanced at Tim. They'd been perched on a ledge for far too long waiting for Dick's signal to engage. "Dunno. Why do you ask?" 

"Well," Tim fiddled with his utility belt, opening and closing the compartments at random. "I have an extra ticket for _The Rise of Skywalker_ tomorrow. You could come. If you want, I mean." 

"Why don't you ask N?" 

"I did. He, um- he didn't respond for a while. And then he sent me a text about what he and Robin did all day." 

"Maybe he didn't get your text?" 

Tim huffed. "He saw it. He left me on read, Hood." 

Jason chuckled, "Read Hood?" 

Tim giggled in response. "Shut up," he said, grinning, "Anyway, it's tomorrow afternoon. I was gonna be at the theater by two, to have time to get popcorn and stuff. You don't have to come or anything. I've already seen it, but you really need to see a Star Wars movie a few times to really appreciate it, you know?" 

Jason nodded as if he did know. 

"So, yeah. What do you think?" 

Jason shrugged. "Long as nothing better comes up, I don't mind seeing a movie on your dime, Replacement." 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jason woke up slowly, savoring how comfortable his bed had decided to be that morning. Or afternoon, as it probably was, considering he hadn't gotten to bed until well after six o'clock in the morning. He hit the home button on his phone. 

_1:39 PM_

Perfect. He wasn't supposed to meet Tim until- 

Panic struck him. He bolted out of bed, swearing to himself, and snatched whatever clothes he found first. Three minutes later found Jason dressed and on his bike, speeding towards the theater. 

~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Jason's phone read _2:06 PM_ when he finally entered the theater, after making one quick, but very important stop at a convenience store. He scanned the crowd and finally saw Tim next in line. He was looking at his phone, brows furrowed. Jason stopped next to him, and said, "Popcorn is on you too, right?" 

Tim looked up quickly, then smiled wide. "Yeah, popcorn is on me." 

They placed their order, scanned their tickets, and found their seats. Tim handed his popcorn bucket to Jason long enough to adjust the footrest on his seat. He still hadn't stopped grinning. "I didn't think you were coming," he said, already eating. "You cut it kinda close there."

"Of course I was coming," Jason replied, "I had to make a stop first." He unzipped his jacket just enough to reveal an assortment of M&Ms packets in every kind the convenience store carried. 

Tim gasped. "You're not supposed to bring that in here," he whispered far too loud, but Jason just rolled his eyes. 

"As if either of us is going to pay what they want for a little bit of candy. You already spent thirty dollars on popcorn and drinks alone. You did your part. Stop being all judgy." 

Tim relaxed a little, still looking a little judgy. Jason refastened his jacket until the lights dimmed. "So catch me up to speed before the previews start. Is Luke Skywalker still in these?" 

Tim gasped again, more horrified than before. "Jay, _please_ tell me you've seen the last two movies!" 

Jason shook his head. "Kid, the last Star War I saw was when I was fourteen. Don't remember if I even paid attention." 

"Jason!" Tim exclaimed, "We can't see this now! You'll be so confused, and have the other movies spoiled on top of it! No, we need to- we need to go! Go home and watch them all. We can come back tonight, and-" 

Jason flung his arm across Tim to stop him from leaving. "Woah, kid. Relax. It's okay. I don't really care. Just tell me who this movie's about and that's all I need." 

Tim looked skeptical. "Why did you even come if you haven't seen the rest of the trilogy?" 

"Because you asked me to," Jason responded simply. 

"Oh." 

"Yeah." 

"Well," Tim relaxed back into his seat once again, "I guess you can just ask me if you have any questions, yeah? I mean, I've already seen it, so I won't be missing anything." 

"Great. Now are you going to tell me who this one's about, or not?" 

Tim's grin was back. "Yeah. I can do that." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you die from typing the word popcorn too many times? 
> 
> 1) Yes Tim goes to bougie theaters with footrests  
> 2) Yes Jason says Star War to be annoying  
> 3) Yes Read Hood did make me giggle when I was writing it. I actually wrote this entire chapter in order to include Read Hood
> 
> If you like, comments and kudos are so appreciated <3

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a comment if there's anything you'd like to see in the future!


End file.
